U.S. patent number 5,153,582 [Application Number 07/394,254] was granted by the patent office on 1992-10-06 for method of and apparatus for acknowledging and answering a paging signal.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Motorola, Inc.. Invention is credited to Walter L. Davis.
United States Patent |
5,153,582 |
Davis |
October 6, 1992 |
Method of and apparatus for acknowledging and answering a paging
signal
Abstract
A paging system with a remote pager which includes a transmitter
with a plurality of individually selectable encoded acknowledge
signals. The system includes apparatus at the paging terminal for
composing messages with a primary message and a plurality of
alternate responses, each response corresponding to one of the
acknowledge signals. Upon reception of the page, the pager is
operated by selecting the acknowledge signal corresponding with the
desired response to the primary message. Transmission of the
selected acknowledge signal acknowledges reception of the page and,
simultaneously, answers the primary message.
Inventors: |
Davis; Walter L. (Coral
Springs, FL) |
Assignee: |
Motorola, Inc. (Schaumburg,
IL)
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Family
ID: |
26909127 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/394,254 |
Filed: |
August 7, 1989 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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214569 |
Jul 1, 1988 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
340/7.23;
340/7.52 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G08B
5/223 (20130101); H04W 84/025 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G08B
5/22 (20060101); H04Q 7/12 (20060101); G08B
005/22 () |
Field of
Search: |
;455/31,33,54,57
;340/311.1,313,314,825.44,825.47,825.48 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Weldon; Ulysses
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Collopy; Daniel R. Koch; William E.
Berry; Thomas G.
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/214,569,
filed Jul. 1, 1988 now abandoned.
Claims
What I claim is:
1. In a paging system which receives messages initiated by a
caller, and transmits the caller initiated messages in the form of
paging signals by a central transmitter of a paging terminal to a
remote pager of at least one caller selected user, said remote
pager having transmission capability to transmit a signal back to
an acknowledge receiver of the paging terminal, a method of
acknowledging reception of a caller initiated, response requested
paging signal transmitted from the central transmitter to the
remote pager, said method comprising the steps of:
transmitting the paging signal including a caller initiated message
from the central transmitter to the remote pager of a caller
selected user, which message including a caller composed question
and a plurality of caller composed responses to said question;
receiving the transmitted message with the remote pager of the at
least one selected user;
visually displaying on the selected user's remote pager the caller
composed question and corresponding plurality of responses of the
received message;
designating to the selected user's remote pager a user selected
response from said displayed plurality of responses; and
acknowledging reception of the transmitted message by transmitting
from the selected user's remote pager to the acknowledge receiver a
signal indicative of the user designated response to the question
of said message.
2. A method of transmitting a signal from a paging receiver of a
user acknowledging reception of a caller initiated, response
requested page and simultaneously indicating a user designated
response to said page, said method comprising the steps of:
receiving with the paging receiver a paging signal including a
message containing a caller composed question and a plurality of
caller composed responses to the question;
visually displaying on the paging receiver the caller composed
question and corresponding plurality of responses of the received
message;
designating to the paging receiver a user selected response from
said displayed plurality of responses; and
transmitting a signal from the paging receiver to acknowledge
receipt of the paging signal, said transmitted signal being
indicative of the user designated response to the question of the
received paging signal.
3. In a paging system having a paging terminal responsive to a
caller initiated message including a caller composed question and a
plurality of caller composed responses to said question to transmit
said message in the form of a paging signal, a paging receiver
remotely located from said paging terminal comprising:
means for receiving said paging signal including said caller
initiated message;
means for visually displaying the caller composed question and
corresponding plurality of responses of said received message to a
user;
means operative by said user to designate a user selected response
from said displayed plurality of responses; and
means responsive to the user designation of said operative means
for transmitting a signal acknowledging reception of said paging
signal, which acknowledge signal also being indicative of the
response to the question designated by the user.
4. The paging receiver in accordance with claim 3 wherein the
displaying means include a visual display screen.
5. The paging receiver in accordance with claim 3 wherein the
designating means include a plurality of switches operative by the
user.
6. The paging receiver in accordance with claim 5 wherein the
transmitting means includes means for modulating the acknowledge
signal based on the operation of the plurality of switches by the
user.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to paging systems and more
specifically to paging systems in which the pager is capable of
responding with an acknowledge signal and an answer when a caller
initiated, response requested page has been received.
In many paging systems it is desirable to know when a page has been
received by a designated pager. Due to the power and energy
dissipation limits imposed by the small size of the batteries used
in paging receivers, the power level and transmission time that can
be used to send signals acknowledging receipt of the page are
extremely limited. Because the power level and transmission time
during which RF signals can be transmitted are very limited, the
coding scheme must be very simple.
In many instances the person having the page transmitted to the
paging receiver desires additional information from the person
being paged. In these instances it would be extremely advantagous
if the additional information could be transmitted with the
acknowledge signal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and
improved method and apparatus for acknowledging the receipt of
paging signals in a paging system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method
and apparatus for simultaneously acknowledging receipt of the
signal and responding with an answer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new
and improved method and apparatus which will optimize the
information that can be conveyed by utilizing an acknowledge signal
to both acknowledge receipt of the page and indicate a user
selected response to the page.
These and other objects are realized in a paging system including a
remote pager, a central transmitter which transmits messages in the
form of paging signals including a caller initiated question and a
plurality of caller initiated responses, and an acknowledge
receiver for receiving an acknowledge signal transmitted from the
remote pager and indicative of a user selected one of the plurality
of responses.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a paging system, including
a remote pager having transmission capabilities, embodying the
present invention;
FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of the remote pager
illustrated in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a view in top plan of the display and control of the
pager of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematic of an acknowledge signal
encoder suitable for embodying in the paging receiver embodiment of
FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 includes waveforms A-D exemplifying simple digitally coded
signals which may be generated by the acknowledge signal encoder
embodiment depicted in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 includes waveforms E-H exemplifying frequency coded
waveforms which may be generated by an alternate embodiment of an
acknowledge signal encoder.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematic of a data display and control
logic section suitable for embodying in the paging receiver
embodiment of FIG. 2 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring specifically to FIG. 1, a paging system is illustrated
which embodies the present invention. The paging system includes a
telephone 10 which is utilized by a calling party to initiate a
page. Telephone 10 is coupled to a computer terminal 11 by means of
a standard telephone line. Computer terminal 11 is controlled by a
paging system operator who composes messages on the computer
terminal in response to messages from the calling party on
telephone 10. Computer terminal 11 is coupled through a paging
terminal 12 to a central transmitter 13 and an acknowledge receiver
14. It will of course be understood by those skilled in the art
that transmitter 13 and receiver 14 may be in a single unit
utilizing a single antenna or they may actually be positioned
remotely from each other. For example, in any specific area it may
be advantagous to interconnect a plurality of spaced apart
receivers in a network around the area to reduce the amount of
power required for a pager to reach any specific receiver. The
system further includes at least one remotely located pager 15.
Referring specifically to FIG. 2, the remote pager 15 is
illustrated in simplified block form. The pager 15 includes an
antenna 16 coupled through a transmit/receive switch 17 to either a
transmitter 18 or a receiver 19. Antenna 16, switch 17, transmitter
18, and receiver 19 operate in the normal well known fashion and
will not be elaborated upon further.
The output of receiver 19 is coupled to an address signal decoder
20 and to a data decoder 21. The output of data decoder 21 is
coupled to a data display and control logic circuit 22, which in
turn controls an LCD display 23. A plurality of display control
inputs 24 through 27 are coupled to the data display and control
logic circuit 22 from external controls which will be described
presently. Address signal decoder 20 provides enable signals to
data decoder 21, data display and control logic circuit 22, and an
acknowledge signal encoder 28. The output of acknowledge signal
encoder 28 is coupled to a modulation input of transmitter 18.
Acknowledge signal encoder 28 also has a plurality of inputs 29
through 32 from a plurality of message selector controls which will
be described presently.
Referring specifically to FIG. 3, a plan view of the display 23 and
controls of pager 15 is illustrated. A plurality of switches A, B,
C, and D are illustrated as the message selector controls for
inputs 29 through 32, respectively, of acknowledge signal encoder
28. The switches A through D may be simple push button switches,
toggle switches or any other type of switch which may be utilized
for the purposes to be described presently. Four display function
controls, READ, MEMORY, VOLUME, and DISPLAY, are included on the
control panel on pager 15 and are connected to inputs 24 through
27, respectively, of data display and control logic circuit 22.
Data display and control logic circuit 22 contains a memory and the
circuitry required to store and format a message for proper display
by LCD display 23. The READ function control provides a signal on
input 24 which causes control logic circuit 22 to bring a message
from the memory and supply it to LCD display 23. The function
control labelled MEMORY provides a signal on input 25 to cause
control logic circuit 22 to store the next message received from
data decoder 21 in the memory. The function control labelled VOLUME
provides a signal on input 26 to logic circuit 22 which changes the
volume, in a prescribed direction, of any acoustic signaling device
that may be coupled to logic circuit 22 in addition to LCD display
23. Finally, the function control labelled DISPLAY supplies signals
to logic circuit 22 on input 27 to cause logic circuit 22 to change
the brightness of display 23.
Each of the message selector switches A, B, C, and D, supply
signals to acknowledge signal encoder 28 which cause encoder 28 to
supply a different code to transmitter 18 for modulating the RF
signal produced thereby. It will of course be understood by those
skilled in the art that there are a great variety of codes which
may be utilized by acknowledge signal encoder 28, including a
simple digital code, frequency or amplitude modulation, or any of a
variety of other well known schemes. It will also be understood
that the message selector switches A, B, C, and D, can simply be
push button switches which automatically cause an encoded
transmission upon depression thereof or they could be a type of
toggle switch which simply controls acknowledge encoder 28 and
transmission occurs in response to a transmission switch (not
shown) which is operated after the message selector controls are
properly positioned. In this preferred embodiment the message
selector switches A, B, C, and D, are simple push button switches
which automatically cause a transmission upon the depression
thereof, which transmission is encoded with a simple digital
code.
Referring to FIG. 4 which depicts a suitable embodiment of the
encoder 28, pushbutton switches A-D may be coupled over their
respective signal lines 29-32 to respective switch logic circuits
40-43 which are of the conventional variety operative to condition
the switch induced signalling from such effects as contact bounce,
for example. In the present embodiment, the resultant signals of
the logic circuits 40-43 may be coupled respectively to
conventional one-shot multi-vibrator circuits 45-48 having outputs
coupled respectively to one input each of AND gates 50-53. The
outputs of the AND gates 50-53 are coupled respectively to four
inputs of an OR gate 55 which effects the modulation signal
conducted to the modulation input of the transmitter 18. The
encoder 28 may also include a signal generator 57 for producing a
digitally encoded signal corresponding to each of the AND gates
50-53, which signals may be each conducted respectively to another
input of such AND gates over the signal lines 60-63. An example of
simple digitally coded signals which may be produced by the
generator 57 corresponding to signal lines 60-63 are shown by the
waveforms A-D, respectively, of FIG. 5. The acknowledge enable
signal effected by decoder 20 may be coupled to another input of
the AND gates 50-53 over signal line 65 and also to the signal
generator 57 over signal line 67.
An example of operation is as follows: When the enable signal is
generated by the decoder 20, it may cause the signal generator 57
to produce the set of digitally encoded signals which are supplied
to the inputs of the gates 50-53 over the respectively
corresponding signal lines 60-63. The enable signal also enables
the gates 50-53 over signal line 65. Accordingly, when one of the
pushbutton switches A-D is depressed, a signal conducted over the
respective line 29-32 is conditioned by the respective logic
circuit 40-43 and causes a pulse of a given duration to be
generated by the respective one-shot circuit 45-48 and conducted to
the respective AND gate 50-53 to enable such AND gate to pass the
corresponding digitally encoded signal. In response, the OR gate 55
effects a modulation signal based on the selected digitally encoded
signal which is conducted to the transmitter 18 to modulate the
signal transmitted thereby. Thus, an acknowledge back signal may be
transmitted by the paging receiver via transmitter 18, which signal
being indicative of the pushbutton A-D depressed by the user of the
paging receiver, i.e. indicative of a user selected response.
An alternate embodiment of an acknowledge signal encoder 28 may
comprise a signal generator 57 which produces a set of frequency
coded signals over signal line 60-63, a simplified example of which
being shown by the waveforms E-H, respectively, of FIG. 6. In this
embodiment, the AND gates 50-53 may be replaced with analog gates
which are governed by the enable signal over signal lines 65 and
respective signals effected by the pushbuttons A-D as described in
connection with the embodiment of FIG. 4. In this example, the
signal transmitted by the transmitter 18 may be frequency modulated
to indicate the pushbutton A-D depressed by the user.
Continuing, in FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematic of a data
display and control logic section of a paging receiver suitable for
embodiment in the paging receiver of FIG. 2. For example, the data
conducted from the decoder 21 may be provided to one input of an
AND gate 70 and the enable signal generated from the decoder 20 may
be provided to another input of the AND gate 70 and to one input of
another AND gate 72. The output of the AND gate 70 may be coupled
to a message memory 74 and a display memory 76. A control logic
block 78 may be coupled to the message memory 74 through address
and control lines 80 and may also be coupled to the display memory
76 over address and control lines 82. A display controller/driver
section 84 may be coupled to the display memory by address and
control lines 86 and also data lines 88. The controller/driver 84
may also be coupled to the LCD display 23 over a signal line
90.
Still further, an oscillator circuit 92 is operative to generate an
oscillation signal in the audio range which may be conducted to
another input of the AND gate 72 over signal line 94. The output of
the AND gate 72 may be coupled to the input of an audio driver
circuit 96 which drives an audio transducer 98. In operation, the
enable signal from the decoder 20 permits the audio oscillation
signal over signal line 94 to pass through the AND gate 72 to
govern the audio driver 96 to drive the audio transducer 98 to
audibilize the oscillation signal. The volume of the generated tone
may be controlled by the VOLUME pushbutton via signal line 26 which
may be conducted to the audio driver 96.
An example of operation of the display of messages in accordance
with the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 7 is as follows: As the
data message is conducted from the decoder 21, the enable signal is
generated from the decoder 20 and permits the data to pass through
the gate 70 to the memory 74 and memory 76. The control logic 78 is
governed by the READ and MEMORY pushbuttons via signal lines 24 and
25, respectively, to control the storage of the data passing
through AND gate 70 in either the memory 74 or memory 76 utilizing
the signal lines 80 or 82, respectively.
For example, if the READ pushbutton is depressed, a signal is
conducted over signal line 24 which governs the logic 78 to access
memory 76 and store the incoming data through AND gate 70 therein
whereupon it may be directly displayed on the LCD display 23 as
will be described presently. Conversely, if the MEMORY pushbutton
is depressed, a signal is conducted over line 25 to govern the
logic circuit 78 to access memory 74 using signal lines 80 in which
case the data may be stored in the message memory 74. Subsequently,
a stored message in the memory 74 may be read by depressing the
READ pushbutton which governs the logic 78 to read the data message
from memory 74 using signal lines 80 to memory 76 using signal
lines 82, such data being conducted over signal lines 100.
The display of data to the LCD display 23 from the memory 76 is
controlled by the controller/driver circuit 84 which utilizes
address and control lines 86 to conduct data over signal line 88
which is conditioned and formatted by the circuit 84 and supplied
to the display 23 over signal line 90 in the proper display format
(refer to FIG. 3, for example). The intensity of the display may be
controlled by the DISPLAY pushbutton which causes a signal to be
conducted over signal line 27 to the controller/driver circuit 84
for such purposes. For more details of a data display and control
logic section of a paging receiver, reference is made to the
instruction manual "PMR 2000" bearing number 68-P81048C70-0 which
was published by Motorola, Inc. in December, 1986 and is
incorporated by reference herein for providing such details.
In the operation of the paging system, a calling party contacts the
paging system operator at computer terminal 11 by means of
telephone 10. He requests a page of a specific pager, for example
pager 15, and further requests the paging system operator compose a
message asking the owner of pager 15 what time he would like to
meet Mr. Jones for dinner. In addition to the primary message (the
question), the calling party provides the paging system operator
with a number of alternate responses, or times, he will be
available for dinner; 6pm, 7pm, or 8pm. The calling party further
instructs the paging system operator that in the event none of
these times are available to the pager user being contacted that he
should call back the calling party. The paging system operator
composes a message on computer terminal 11 which includes the
primary message and the alternate responses as shown on LCD display
23 of FIG. 3. The message is transmitted by way of paging terminal
12 and transmitter 13 to pager 15.
The message, which also contains a pager address, is received by
receiver 19 and supplied to address signal decoder 20 and data
decoder 21. Address signal decoder 20 decodes the address portion
of the message and, if the address is the same as pager 15,
supplies an acknowledge enable signal to acknowledge signal encoder
28, an enable signal to data display and control logic 22 and an
enable signal to data decoder 21. When data decoder 21 receives the
enable signal from address signal decoder 20 the message from
receiver 19 is decoded and the data is supplied to logic circuit
22. Since logic circuit 22 has also received an enable signal, the
decoded message activates an acoustic signal or other alert device
in pager 15 and is supplied to the memory forming a portion of data
display and control logic 22. When the pager user hears the
acoustic signal and operates the READ control the message appears
at LCD display 23 of pager 15 as illustrated in FIG. 3.
Upon reading the message on the pager LCD display 23, the pager
user determines a response to the question and selects a message
selector switch A, B, C, or D which corresponds with the answer he
desires to transmit i.e. switches A, B, C, and D are correlated
with the displayed responses 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM, and call back,
respectively. The pager user than depresses the message selector
switch which automatically transmits an encoded message from
transmitter 18 to acknowledge receiver 14 to both acknowledge
receipt of the paging signal and indicate the user designated
response to the question thereof. The received response is
conducted through paging terminal 12 to computer terminal 11.
Computer terminal 11 matches the received encoded signal with the
corresponding alternate response, i.e. 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, or call back,
and provides the alternate response to the paging system operator
by means of a display or the like. The paging system operator then
provides the calling party with the selected alternate response. It
should be understood that the message from the pager might be
interpreted by the computer terminal and an appropriate recorded
voice response (or other response signal) relayed to the calling
party without intervention by the paging system operator. Thus, the
pager has provided an acknowledge signal as well as at least a
partial response to the question of the calling party.
While no specific message coding format has been described herein
it will be understood by those skilled in the art that a variety of
message formats may be utilized. A typical message format which
might be utilized in the present paging system is described in the
book entitled "A Standard Code for Radiopaging" published in July
of 1979 wherein the international name for POCSAG is "CCIR
Radiopaging Code No. 1 (Rec 584, Geneva, 1982, POCSAG-Code); U.S.
Pat. No. 4,518,961, entitled "Universal Paging Device with Power
Conservation", issued May 21, 1985; and a copending PCT patent
application entitled "System for Off-The-Air Reprogramming of
Communication Receivers", bearing Ser. No. PCT/US87/00004, filed
Jan. 2, 1987, and all incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention optimizes the information that can be
conveyed with a limited set of acknowledge signals by assigning a
variable set of meanings to each acknowledge signal. This
functional assignment is accomplished by transmitting the meaning
of each of the return signals as part of the initial paging signal.
Since the central transmitter is not handicapped by limited power
and/or time, the transmission of the additional portion of the
message is not a problem. While the pager illustrated utilizes an
LCD display, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that
other types of indicators might be utilized, such as a simple voice
speaker, although this would not be as desirable as the described
display because of the possibility of errors and the like.
Thus, a method and apparatus for acknowledging reception of a
paging signal and simultaneously responding with at least a partial
answer is disclosed. Since the central transmitter transmits the
message and a plurality of possible or alternate responses the
battery of the remote pager is used for only a minimum response
signal. Also, the maximum amount of information can be conveyed by
the minimum response signal.
While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of this
invention, further modifications and improvements will occur to
those skilled in the art. I desire it to be understood, therefor,
that this invention is not limited to the particular form shown and
I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications which do
not depart from the spirit and scope of this invention.
* * * * *